Discussion on "Motion study applied to engineering" at a joint meeting of the the Manchester and Coventry Sections of the Institution

MR. C. H. POWER (Chairman) : Personally, I have not had any experience in the highly scientific form of motion study needing so much apparatus to produce results, as described so ably by Miss Shaw. My experience has been more with the use of the stop watch, and it is surprising what tremendous improvements can be made after careful scrutiny and close analysis of the results obtained by such a simple method. My firm have been practising motion study by this method since 1914, and during the intervening period so much data has been collected that on any new job one can predict, to within very close limits, what the production time should be. It is surprising what an amount of saving can be effected by close investigation into the right type of labour and the proper preparation and handling of materials along with the service necessary to see that both are available at the right time and in the right place. Miss Shaw quoted the words of a French thinker who drew attention to the fact that we spent a tremendous lot of thought in obtaining the correct materials and paid but little attention to the human material.